Rotary hair brush in the form of a rotary closed loop carrier holding bristles

ABSTRACT

Bristles for brushing a user&#39;s hair extend outwardly from a closed loop conveyor. The loop is multi-sided (preferably three sides defining a triangular or egg-shaped configuration) and has curved apices at the extremities of adjacent pairs of sides. The curved apices define different angles. The conveyor brushes the user&#39;s hair at the position of an apex with a large curvature angle when the user&#39;s hair is relatively long, the conveyor brushes the user&#39;s hair at the position of an apex with a small curvature angle when the user&#39;s hair is relatively short. The conveyor has relatively straight sides between the apices. The conveyor smoothes the user&#39;s hair when the straight sides are applied to the user&#39;s hair. The triangular configuration may be isosceles. However, the triangular configuration may have different curvature angles at the different apices. A stationary handle attached to the conveyor 58 houses a motor for driving the conveyor.

[0001] This invention relates to rotary hair brushes in the form of closed loop conveyors for brushing and smoothing a user's hair regardless of the hair length.

BACKGROUND OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Women have discovered through the years the benefits of brushing their hair to enhance the appearance of their hair. For years, women have stroked their hair manually with a “round” hair brush to arrange their hair neatly and to enhance the sheen of their hair. In brushing their hair manually, women have tended to turn the brush partially so that the bristles in the brush move through the hair. Generally, the rotation of the brush has been limited to about one-half (½) of a revolution. The user has then removed the brush from the user's hair. The rotation of the brush is limited to about one-half (½) of a revolution because rotations greater than one-half (½) of a revolution tend to entangle the user'hair. The user has then moved the brush to a new position in the user's hair and has repeated the process described above.

[0003] When the user manually brushes the user's hair, the user has obtained certain advantages. One advantage has been that the positioning of the hair strands has become controlled so that the appearance of the hair has become styled rather than tangled or disheveled. Another advantage has been that oil near the surface of the user's scalp has become distributed throughout the length of the hair strands. This has tended to enhance the sheen and attractiveness of the user's hair.

[0004] A manual rotation of a “round” hair brush has certain significant disadvantages. It is time consuming. Furthermore, the hair brush has been removed from the user's hair after each rotation of the hair brush through approximately one-half (½) of a revolution. The next one-half (½) of a revolution of the hair brush has not then been at the previous one-half (½) of a revolution of the hair brush. This has prevented the user's hair from being as tidy, or lustrous, as the user would have otherwise preferred.

[0005] It has been known for some time that a motor-driven rotation of a hair brush might be advantageous over a manually rotatable hair brush in enhancing the appearance of a user's hair. A number of attempts have been made in the past to provide a motor-driven rotatable hair brush which will operate upon a user's hair without entangling the user's hair. These attempts have not been entirely satisfactory.

[0006] U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,635 has been issued on to Claudio Marino on Aug. 8, 2000 for a Motorized, Rotating Hair brush and has been assigned of record to an entity which has exclusively licensed the patent to the assignee of this patent application. U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,635 discloses and claims rotatable hair brushes which enhance the appearance of a user's hair without entangling the hair. The rotatable hair brush in U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,635 includes a core with a plurality of series of openings, each series being displaced from adjacent series. Bristles are disposed in the openings in each series. A plurality of dividers are provided each disposed in the space above the core and between adjacent series of bristles. When the core and the dividers rotate, the dividers prevent the user's hair from being entangled in the brush.

[0007] The size of the hair brush has been dependent upon the length of the user's hair to be brushed. The size of the brush for short hair has been smaller than the size of the brush for long hair. When the length has been varied from a long length to a short length of the hair, the brush provided in the brush apparatus for long hair has had to be removed from the handle and the brush for short hair has had to be substituted. Brushes have also had to be changed when long hair has had to be brushed instead of short hair.

[0008] It would be desirable to provide a brush apparatus in which a first portion of the brush apparatus would be used for long hair without entangling the hair, and in which a second portion of the apparatus would be used for short hair, without replacing any members in the brush apparatus. It would also be desirable to provide such apparatus with properties of being able to smooth the user's hair without changing the brush in the brush apparatus.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] In the drawings:

[0010]FIG. 1 is a schematic front elevational view of a rotary hair brush constituting a preferred embodiment of the invention;

[0011]FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the preferred embodiment of the hair brush shown in FIG. 1;

[0012]FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the preferred embodiment of the hair brush shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 with components of the hair brush partially broken away to show intercomponents in the rotary hair brush;

[0013]FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of another preferred embodiment of the rotary hair brush as seen from the left side of the rotary hair brush;

[0014]FIG. 5 is a side elevational view of the rotary hair brush shown in FIG. 4, as seen from the right side of the rotary hair brush; and

[0015]FIG. 6 is a side perspective view of still another embodiment of the rotary hair brush.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] Apparatus generally indication at 10 is provided for brushing and/or smoothing a user's hair. The apparatus 10 includes a stationary handle 12 for gripping by the user. A switch 14 is provided on the handle and has three (3) different positions. In one position, the apparatus 10 is not operative. In a second position, the apparatus 10 is operative in the first direction. In a third position, the apparatus is operative in a second direction opposite to the first direction. A switch 16 is also disposed on the handle. The switch 16 may have two (2) positions respectively providing for the operation of the apparatus at two (2) different speeds.

[0017] A conveyor generally indicated at 20 is disposed in a closed loop 22 which is driven by the drive arrangement 16. The conveyor 20 may be made from a suitable material such as a plastic or a canvas. The conveyor 20 is multi-sided. Three sides are preferable to define a triangular configuration. Preferably the triangular configuration defines an isosceles triangle having two (2) sides 22 and 24 of equal length and a third side 26 of a different length. When the conveyor 10 defines an isosceles triangle, a first roller 18 a may be disposed at the side 26 and a roller 18 b may be disposed at the apex between the sides 22 and 24.

[0018] The apices of the conveyor 20 are curved so that the conveyor will be able to move in the closed loop at a substantially constant speed. By providing the apices of the conveyor 20 with curvatures, the conveyor may be considered to have an egg shape. The sides 22, 24 and 26 of the conveyor are preferably bound slightly outwardly to define a convex configuration for the sides. The side 26 may be moved out more than the sides 22 and 24 in order to receive the roller 18 along a substantial portion of the periphery of the roller. The curvature of the apices may be maintained by providing the rollers 18 a and 18 b at the apices. It will be appreciated that the sides 22 and 24 may be linear or straight as shown in FIG. 1.

[0019] An apex 28 at the juncture of the sides 22 and 24 defines a smaller angle of curvature than the curvature provided at the side 26 and the portions of the sides 22 and 24 adjacent the line 26. Because of this, the portion 30 of the conveyor adjacent the apex 28 may be used to brush a user's hair when the user's hair is relatively short. The side 26 and the portions of the sides 22 and 24 adjacent the side 26 defines a relatively large angle. Because of this, this position of the conveyor 10 can be used to brush a user's hair when the hair is relatively long. The portions of the conveyor 20 defined by the sides 22 and 24 can be used to smooth a user's hair since these portions are relatively stronger and relatively long. A motor 30 a may be disposed within the conveyor 20 as shown in FIG. 1. Alternatively, a motor 30 b may be disposed within the handle as shown in broken lines in FIG. 2. The motor 30 a and 30 b drives gears 32 which in turn drive the rollers 18 a and 18 b.

[0020] The conveyor 20 holds a plurality of bristles 34 which extend outwardly from the conveyor to brush or smooth the user's hair. The bristles 34 may be made from a suitable material such as nylon or a plastic. Slots 36 may be provided in the conveyor 20 between the bristles 34 to facilitate the transfer of heat to the user's hair. This heat may be used to dry the user's hair when the user's hair is wet.

[0021] The conveyor 20 may include a heating element 36 for facilitating the drying of a user's hair after the user has washed his or her hair. The conveyor 20 may also include a fan 28 for directing the heated air to the user's hair. The heating element 36 and the fan 38 are shown as boxes in rectangles in FIG. 1 because these elements are well known in the prior art.

[0022] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, a conveyor generally indicated at 40 is provided. The conveyor maybe formed from three (3) sides 42, 44 and 46 none of which is equal in length to any of the other sides. Because of this, the apices between the sides 42 and 44, the sides 42 and 46 and the sides 44 and 46 define angles each which is different from the other angles. All of the apices are curved, the curvature being dependent upon the angel of the apex. As a result, the conveyor 40 can be used at the different apices to brush a user's hair, the length of the user's hair being related to the angles formed at the apices.

[0023] Although this invention has been disclosed and illustrated with reference to particular preferred embodiments, the principles involved are susceptible for use in numerous other embodiments which will be apparent to persons of ordinary skill in the art. The invention is, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A rotary hair brush for brushing a user's hair, including: a handle, a motor disposed in the handle, a drive mechanism operatively coupled to the motor to be driven by the motor, a conveyor disposed in a closed loop and operatively coupled to the drive mechanism to be driven by the drive mechanism and having an outer surface and bristles extending from the outer surface of the conveyor, the loop defined by the conveyor being multi-sided and having curved apices to provide for a brushing of the user's hair at different des of the loop dependent upon the length of the user's hair and upon the type of brushing to be provided.
 2. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 1 wherein at least one of the sides of the loop has a length and characteristics to facilitate a smoothing of the user's hair and other sides of the loop have characteristics to provide a brushing of the user's hair dependent upon the length of the user's hair.
 3. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 1 wherein at least one of the sides of the loop has a length and convex characteristics to facilitate a smoothing of the user's hair regardless of the length of the user's hair.
 4. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 1 wherein one of the apices has a curvature to brush the user's hair when the user's hair is short and an other of the apices has a curvature to brush the user's hair when the user's hair is long.
 5. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 2 wherein at least one of the sides of the loop has a length and convex characteristics to facilitate a smoothing of the user's hair regardless of the length of the user's hair and wherein one of the apices has a curvature to brush the user's hair when the user's hair is short and an other of the apices has a curvature to brush the user's hair when the user's hair is long.
 6. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 1 wherein the conveyor is substantially triangular.
 7. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 1 wherein the conveyor is substantially egg shaped.
 8. A rotary hair brush for brushing a user's hair, including a motor, a conveyor disposed in a closed loop and having curved apices and having rollers at the apices, the rollers being driven by the motor, one of the curved apices having a relatively large curvature for brushing the user's hair when the user's hair is long and another of the curved apices having a relatively small curvature for brushing the user's hair when the user's hair is short and bristles extending outwardly from the conveyor to brush the user's hair when the conveyor is driven by the motor.
 9. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 8 wherein the conveyor has a substantially triangular configuration.
 10. A rotary hair brush wherein the conveyor has a substantially egg-shaped configuration.
 11. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 8 wherein the sides of the conveyor are convex to facilitate a smoothing action of the user's hair when the sides of the conveyor are disposed against the user's hair.
 12. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 8 wherein slots are disposed in the conveyor between the bristles to facilitate the transfer of heat from the conveyor to the user's head to provide for drying of the user's hair.
 13. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 8 wherein a stationary handle is attached to the conveyor for manual gripping by the user when the user is applying the conveyor to the user's hair.
 14. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 9 wherein the sides of the conveyor are convex to facilitate a smoothing action of the user's hair when the sides of the conveyor are disposed against the user's hair and wherein slots are disposed in the conveyor between the bristles to facilitate the transfer of heat from the conveyor to the user's head to provide for drying of the user's hair and wherein a stationary handle is attached to the conveyor for manual gripping by the user when the user is applying the conveyor to the user's hair.
 15. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 14 wherein the conveyor has approximately an egg-shaped configuration.
 16. A rotary hair brush for brushing a user's hair, including a conveyor disposed in a closed loop in which curvatures are provided in the apices of the conveyor and in which the curvature at one apex is greater than the curvature at another apex, bristles extending outwardly from the conveyor to brush the user's hair, and a motor operatively coupled to the conveyor for rotating the conveyor whereby the user of the conveyor to the user's hair at the one apex to brush the hair when the user's hair is short and the user applies the conveyor to the user's hair at the other apex to brush the user's hair when the user's hair is long.
 17. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 16 wherein slots are provided in the conveyor between the positions of the bristles to facilitate the transfer of heat from the conveyor to the user's hair.
 18. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 15 wherein the conveyor has at least one side shaped to smooth a user's hair when the at least one side is applied to the user's hair and wherein the at least one side is disposed between the one apex and the other apex.
 19. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 18 wherein the at least one side bows outwardly at intermediate positions between the one apex and the other apex.
 20. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 16 wherein the conveyor is disposed on a stationary handle and wherein a first switch is provided on the handle and is connected to the motor to control the speed of movement of the conveyor in the closed loop.
 21. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 16 wherein a second switch is provided in the handle and is connected to the motor to control the direction in which the conveyor moves in the closed loop.
 22. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 16 wherein the conveyor has at least one side shaped to smooth a user's hair when the at least one side is applied to the user's hair and wherein the at least one side is disposed between the one apex and the other apex. the at least one side bows outwardly at intermediate positions between the one apex and the other apex.
 23. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 22 wherein the conveyor is disposed on a stationary handle and wherein a first switch is provided on the handle and is connected to the motor to control the speed of movement of the conveyor in the closed loop and wherein. a second switch is provided in the handle and is connected to the motor to control the direction in which the conveyor moves in the closed loop.
 24. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 24 wherein the conveyor is substantially egg shaped.
 25. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 17 wherein the conveyor is disposed on a stationary handle and wherein a first switch is provided on the handle and is connected to the motor to control the speed of movement of the conveyor in the closed loop and wherein a second switch is provided in the handle and is connected to the motor to control the direction in which the conveyor moves in the closed loop.
 26. A rotary hair brush for brushing a user's hair, including, a conveyor disposed in a closed loop defining approximately an isosceles triangle with curvatures at the apices between different pairs of adjacent sides in the triangle and with a greater curvature at the apices between the two isosceles legs and the third leg than at the other apex in the isosceles triangle, bristles extending outwardly from the conveyor at spaced positions on the conveyor, a motor, and a drive arrangement operatively coupled to the motor and extending to the apices of the triangular arrangement in the conveyor to provide for a rotation of the conveyor.
 27. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 26 wherein the conveyor at the position of the apices of the two (2) isosceles legs with the third leg provides for a brushing of the user's hair when the user's hair is relatively long and wherein the conveyor at the position of the other apex provides for a brushing of the user's hair when the user's hair is relatively short.
 28. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 26 each side of the isosceles triangle defining the conveyor bows outwardly from the apices defining the side and provides a smoothing of the user's hair regardless of the length of the user's hair.
 29. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 26 wherein slots are provided in the conveyor at the positions on the conveyor between the bristles to facilitate the transfer of heat from the conveyor to the user's hair.
 30. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 26 wherein a stationary handle supports the conveyor for rotary movement relative to the handle wherein the drive arrangement includes rollers at the apices.
 31. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 30 wherein the conveyor at the position of the apices of the two (2) isosceles legs within the third leg provides for a brushing of the user's hair when the user's hair is relatively long and wherein the conveyor at the position of other apex provides for a brushing of the user's hair when the user's hair is relatively short and wherein each side of the isosceles triangle defining the conveyor bows outwardly from the apices defining the side and wherein the isosceles legs provides a smoothing of the user's hair regardless of the length of the user's hair and wherein slots are provided in the conveyor at the positions on the conveyor between the bristles to facilitate the transfer of heat from the conveyor to the user's hair.
 32. A rotary hair brush for brushing a user's hair, including a conveyor disposed in a closed loop defining approximately a triangle with different angles at the different apices of the triangle and with different curvatures at the apices, the curvatures at each apex being dependent upon the angle at the apex, the conveyor being constructed to provide for a brushing of the user's hair at one of the apices dependent upon the value of the angle formed at the apex at this curvature and the length of the user's hair, bristles extending outwardly from the conveyor at spaced positions on the conveyor, a motor, and a drive arrangement operatively coupled to the motor and extending to the apices of the triangle defined by the conveyor to provide for a rotation of the conveyor.
 33. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 32 wherein the angle at the conveyor apex providing the brushing of the user's hair is directly related in the length of the user's hair to be brushed.
 34. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 32 wherein each side of the triangle defining the conveyor bows outwardly from the apices defining the side and wherein the sides provide a smoothing of the user's hair regardless of the length of the user's hair.
 35. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 32 wherein slots are provided in the conveyor at the positions on the conveyor between the bristles to facilitate the transfer of heat from the conveyor to the user's hair.
 36. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 32 wherein a handle supports the conveyor for rotary movement relative to the handle and wherein the drive arrangement includes rollers at the position of the apices.
 37. A rotary hair brush as set forth in claim 33 wherein each side of the triangle defining the conveyor bows outwardly from the apices defining the side and wherein the sides provide a smoothing of the user's hair regardless of the length of the user's hair slots are provided in the conveyor at the positions on the conveyor between the bristles to facilitate the transfer of heat from the conveyor to the user's hair. 